


Apprehension

by fuelf



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Atlanta Braves, Baseball, Gen, St. Louis Cardinals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-25
Updated: 2011-03-25
Packaged: 2017-10-17 06:36:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/173962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuelf/pseuds/fuelf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hawksworth coming out to close the game makes Yadi just a little bit nervous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apprehension

Yadi bit his bottom lip and nodded absently as he listened to Tony talking to Motte. He wasn't sure what exactly had happened with those last two batters; the first should have chased Motte's pitches, but he didn't - and the second guy, well, he was lucky he had a little pudge around his middle where Motte hit him with that fastball, otherwise it would have hurt him a lot more than it did.

He didn't blame Motte; if anything he blamed himself for making the wrong calls. Yadi had already decided he'd be taking a look at the video after the game to pick apart those at-bats. But they had to get three more outs before that could happen.

Yadi was immediately apprehensive when Tony told him Hawksworth would be coming out to try to save the game. Yadi liked Hawks, sure - he was fun to catch and he had some good stuff up his sleeve, but he'd never closed before. Yadi looked up at Tony, wanting to say something but not wanting to go against his manager.

"Háblelo con él," - _talk him through it_ , Tony said as he walked by Yadi, suddenly switching his speech from English to Spanish. That alone made Yadi feel a little bit better about the situation. Tony trusted him with this, and he trusted Hawks, which was enough encouragement for Yadi. He looked up to see Blake trotting out of the bullpen, and then glanced at the score board. Top of the ninth, no outs, two on, Cardinals lead by one. Just three more outs to take a win from the Braves, which the Cards desperately needed at this point in the season.

Yadi stood atop the mound with his hands on his hips, waiting on Hawks, watching as Brendan Ryan played around with the pitcher's rosin bag. When Hawks arrived Brendan dropped the bag back on the mound again, gave Hawks a pat on the rear end, and sprinted off to his spot between second and third. Yadi handed the baseball to Blake. A few cheers and applause came out of the crowd when Hawksworth made it out to the bump, but it wasn't much. It seemed all of Cardinal Nation was as uneasy about this as Yadi was.

He took a step closer to Hawks, putting an arm around his waist as he did so. Hawks looked worried, and Yadi didn't blame him. Yadi raised his glove to his face, covering his mouth from any lip-reading Braves, and leaned in to talk. "Lee is up. I know him pretty good. Just keep the ball down, and we'll go from there. You wanna follow me?" Hawks nodded and Yadi nodded back, giving him an encouraging pat on the back as he turned to go back to the plate. "You got this."

Yadi trotted back to home and watched as Derrek Lee made his way to the batter's box. He was formidable, but Yadi had dealt with him plenty of times in the past when Lee was a Cub, and he was confident he could figure out a way to help Hawks get him out. Well, if Hawks was able to throw the right pitches, anyway. Yadi reached up to his mask that was sitting on top of his head and with one quick movement pulled it down over his face where it belonged, and crouched down behind the plate. He looked to the third base coach Oquendo, who didn't seem to have any signs to share. That was good for the Braves; if they were thinking about stealing third right now, they were just stupid, Yadi thought. Then he glanced at Pujols, who gave him their sign that all was well at first. Albert was always alert and ready for a possible pick-off, but he was keeping the runner close for now. Finally, more out of habit than anything, Yadi looked right and into the dugout at their pitching coach Duncan, who was simply staring at Hawks, with no news to share. That was that, then - this out was up to Yadi and Hawks.

Yadi turned slightly on the balls of his feet, hiding his hand between his knees so only Blake could see it. He dropped his index finger, just enough to the left that it touched the inside of his left thigh. Fastball, inside. He wasn't expecting a miracle from Hawksworth, so they'd try for a ground out here rather than a strikeout. Hawksworth didn't object to the sign and Yadi settled back, ready to catch the pitch.


End file.
